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Colleges tend to compete rather than collaborate. That’s why a new five-college cooperative in New Mexico is so unusual. This week’s episode explores the Collaborative for Higher Education Shared Services, or CHESS. It’s made up, so far, of five independent community colleges in New Mexico that have teamed up because they think they’re stronger together than apart. They’ve started by agreeing to create a common enterprise resource planning structure to share resources and information in areas such as accounting, student records, human resources and payroll, but the vision ultimately includes many of the features you might see in a formal college system, including smoother student mobility and more efficient and cost-effective campus operations. In the conversation, the presidents of two of the colleges, Becky Rowley of Santa Fe Community College and Tracy Hartzler of Central New Mexico Community College, discuss the combination of trust, subjugation of institutional ego, and in...

Blog:  Higher Ed Gamma Becoming an adult is much more difficult than it was sixty years ago. Following World War II, the young achieved adult status exceptionally quickly. In 1960, the average American woman was married by the age of 20, with her husband two years older. By age 24, most young people had achieved the markers of adult identity: marriage, children, homeownership, and, for men, a steady job. Today, the passage to adult status is far slower, much less uniform, more circuitous, and, in far too many instances, beset with obstacles and reverses.   Even though this society has, in theory, constructed a seamless glide path to a successful adulthood – college-going – in practice, this pathway fails to work for far too many young people.  Statistics tell the story.  Of 100 high school students, 88 graduate; 61 enroll in college; and 37 earn a degree in 6 years.  Of those 37, 22 work in a job that is related to their degree. For the more a...

Princeton University on Saturday raised its coronavirus risk level to "moderate to high." The university cited "a surge in cases among undergraduate students, coupled with increased case rates in the area." Princeton is requiring all undergraduates to submit a COVID-19 test as soon as they arrive from Thanksgiving break.   Ad keywords:  administrators coronavirus Editorial Tags:  Coronavirus Live Updates Is this diversity newsletter?:  Hide by line?:  Disable left side advertisement?:  Is this Career Advice newsletter?:  Trending:  Live Updates:  liveupdates0 from Inside Higher Ed https://ift.tt/3E5gMWq

Image:  In an unusually quick turnaround for federal politics, a report published in May inspired the introduction of bipartisan legislation just this month that would improve access to public transportation for college students, an investment that is widely supported by higher education advocates. It all began in January, when researchers at the Seldin/Haring-Smith Foundation set out to answer the question “Do students need a car to attend community college?” What they found captured the attention of lawmakers: only 57 percent of primary community college campuses are within half a mile of a transit stop, even though 99 percent of community college students live off campus. Further, 25 percent of those campuses that aren’t accessible could be made accessible simply by extending an existing transit line. “What you’re talking about is adding a transit stop to a route that already exists—building one bus shelter or changing the route a little bit,” said Abi...

Image:  A cohort of four community colleges is collaborating to increase the number of single mothers earning degrees and credentials by 30 percent at each institution and collectively offer new supports to at least 6,000 single moms by summer 2024. Their initial efforts are outlined in a new report released today by Education Design Lab, a nonprofit that designs and tests college program models to help underserved students. Central New Mexico Community College, Delgado Community College in New Orleans, Ivy Tech Community College in Indianapolis and Monroe Community College in Rochester, N.Y., were selected by Education Design Lab in 2019 to develop and launch pilot programs by fall 2021 focused on academic supports tailored to single mothers at their institutions. Each college received $50,000 in start-up funds from the ECMC Foundation, a national foundation aiming to improve higher education outcomes among underserved students. “When I think about this project s...

Image:  Truckee Meadows Community College in Nevada backed off its attempt to fire Lars Jensen, a tenured professor of math, for alleged “insubordination,” deciding last week that he may stay on there. In a four-line email to Jensen, President Karin Hilgerson said she’d accepted the recommendation of a special hearing committee of faculty members to retain him, and that he “shall be continued in employment.” Jensen said it’s “good to see academic freedom prevail at the end of the day. What has it come to if a faculty member cannot speak on an academic matter?” Truckee Meadows informed Jensen of its intention to fire him earlier this year, citing two back-to-back unsatisfactory performance reviews on his part. These reviews were less about Jensen’s teaching than his comportment, however, namely his “insubordination in two instances.” In the first instance of alleged insubordination, Jensen handed out a flier criticizing the college’s math standards at a state math summ...

Image:  An assistant professor of sociology and criminology at Old Dominion University who was accused of being an apologist for pedophilia following a recent interview about their research has agreed to leave the university. The professor, Allyn Walker, who was put on leave earlier this month over the controversy and reported threats to their safety and that of the campus, did not respond to a request for comment. Previously, Walker said their comments defending nonoffending “minor-attracted persons” had been taken out of context or willfully misunderstood by critics. In a joint statement announcing the resignation, Old Dominion University and Walker said that Walker will remain on leave through the end of their contract in May and officially step down from the university after that. “We have concluded that this outcome is the best way to move forward,” President Brian O. Hemphill said in that statement. “We hope today’s action helps bring closure for our Monarch fam...

Who does the best job of managing forests sustainably? In today's Academic Minute, Florida International University's David Bray says it might not be whom you expect. Bray is a professor in the department of earth and environment at Florida International. A transcript of this podcast can be found here . Section:  Academic Minute File:  11-29-21 FIU - Mexico’s Community Forests.mp3 Event's date:  Saturday, November 27, 2021 - 2:30pm Insider only:  from Inside Higher Ed https://ift.tt/3D3W33Z

Blog:  Confessions of a Community College Dean   I don’t know yet how serious the Omicron variant will be -- to my ears, it sounds like a Transformer cartoon from the 80’s -- but the simple existence of yet another variant adds urgency to the questions around working from home.   Full-time faculty have always had the option to work from home.  Lessons can be prepared and papers can be graded just about anywhere.  (I always found the white noise from the row of dryers in the laundromat particularly useful for grading papers.)  While full-time faculty certainly work full time, they aren’t necessarily on campus 40 hours per week.  That was true long before the pandemic, and it became even more true as classes moved to virtual delivery.     The same wasn’t usually true of full-time staff and administrators.  They typically had a “whichever is longer” arrangement: either stay for the traditional 8 hours or stay until the wo...

Category:  Carpe Careers Anne Meyer-Minor describes the mutual benefits that occur when company managers collaborate with academics in the career development of advanced-degree trainees. Ad keywords:  studentaffairs studentsuccess Editorial Tags:  Career Advice Graduate education Graduate students Show on Jobs site:  Image Source:  sturti/E+/getty images Image Size:  Thumbnail-horizontal Is this diversity newsletter?:  Is this Career Advice newsletter?:  Disable left side advertisement?:  Trending:  Live Updates:  liveupdates0 Most Popular:  3 Ad slot:  6 In-Article related stories:  9 from Inside Higher Ed https://ift.tt/3d0UTvk

Columbia University has reached a $12.5 million settlement with students who sued the school for failing to refund fees when it pivoted to online classes in the spring of 2020. As the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the U.S., Columbia—like most U.S. colleges and universities—shifted to remote learning in an effort to keep infection rates low. A class action complaint brought against the university in April 2020 sought reimbursement for both tuition and fees for the spring semester, though the request to reimburse tuition was dismissed by a judge in February. According to the preliminary settlement, filed Tuesday night, $8.56 million will go toward refunding fees paid for student activities, university health services and the use of Columbia gyms, libraries and other campus facilities, Reuters reported. The remaining $4 million will be paid out to “avoid the risks of further litigation,” according to Reuters, which also reported that the preliminary settlement needs ...

A current student at Liberty University filed suit last week alleging the university mishandled her reports of being drugged, raped and impregnated by another student, The News & Advance reported . The suit is separate from one filed last summer by a group of 12 former and students and employees that makes similar complaints and which has fueled intense scrutiny of the evangelical Christian university’s policies and culture around issues of sexual assault. According to The News & Advance , the student says a representative of Liberty’s Title IX office discouraged her from filing a formal complaint and “lobbied her to pursue the informal mediation option.” “The University, through the Title IX representative or another agent, did not advise Doe to seek a criminal complaint or advise her that she should do so to receive additional resources or protection,” the complaint states. “The office provided written guidance which was contradicted by what was stated in me...

Today on the Academic Minute : David Bray, professor in the department of earth and environment at Florida International University, explains how effectively and sustainably different countries manage forests, with a focus on Mexico. Learn more about the Academic Minute here . Is this diversity newsletter?:  Hide by line?:  Disable left side advertisement?:  Is this Career Advice newsletter?:  Trending:  Live Updates:  liveupdates0 from Inside Higher Ed https://ift.tt/3o1SvLl

Nathan Valencia, a student at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, died this month shortly after participating in a fraternity boxing match, KLAS News reported. Valencia’s family is demanding answers about why the event was held at all. “College students should not be placed in a situation where they are pitted against each other for combat. ‘Kappa Sigma Fight Night’ is an event that has been held annually and was well known to both UNLV and the national Kappa Sigma Fraternity. We will leave no stone unturned to determine how a 20 year old ended up in a school-sanctioned amateur fight that cost him his life,” said a statement from the family. The university said it is investigating. Ad keywords:  studentaffairs Is this diversity newsletter?:  Hide by line?:  Disable left side advertisement?:  Is this Career Advice newsletter?:  Trending:  Live Updates:  liveupdates0 from Inside Higher Ed https://i...

The University of Texas at Austin said late last week that three professors investigating the effectiveness of an antiracism curriculum for white preschoolers and their parents may continue that research in full. UT Austin paused the study , known as GoKAR!, and then allowed only parts of it to resume earlier this month, following a complaint to the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights and some other negative publicity alleging that GoKAR! discriminated against participants on the basis of race. That the university paused the study in response to such feedback concerned many faculty members on campus, who argued that there is a precedent for limiting study participants to certain demographics where it’s deemed scientifically necessary. These faculty members also said they worried that UT Austin was bowing to political pressure. The OCR complaint is still in process, but Provost Sharon J. Wood said in an email to the principal investigators that UT Austin’s own expedite...

I was awarded tenure at a time when the mandatory retirement age was 65, and I was happily looking forward to a 35-year career as a tenured faculty member. In 1982, 70 became the age for mandatory retirement. Then, beginning in 1994, there was no longer any mandatory retirement age for faculty at all. My wonderful 35-year opportunity had become even more wonderful! Standing for tenure, as every faculty member knows, is stressful. It typically entails a detailed assessment and evaluation of a faculty member’s teaching, scholarship and service within the context of the long-term needs of the university involved—criteria often only tangentially under control of the faculty member standing for tenure. Those criteria center on the demand for faculty in the discipline involved, especially full-time, tenure-track and tenured faculty members. How large is the supply of these faculty? What are the needs in the other disciplines? What does enrollment look like in each discipline and over all...